More German Christmas

December is always a busy month.  We have had two big conferences in different cities.  We went to Berlin recently for a conference with part of the mission.  We were able to connect with some of the young missionaries who have served here in Hof;  Elders Holbein, Stuve and Anderson.

While there we did visit one of the many Berlin Christmas Markets but took no pictures.  All the bigger towns have several large markets which makes our little one in Hof seem insignificant.

               It is just one part of the main pedestrian walkway through the old city center. 
We also went to Dresden overnight for a missionary couples conference.  We met the 15 couples from the entire mission, including ones from the western portion whom we do not meet at the 1/2 mission conferences.  Our mission is too big to meet in any of the church buildings so the mission conferences are split into two meetings.  We met another couple, the Russells, whose children went to Jordan and who were both teachers in Jordan School District.  She was at Altaview and he taught middle school at Union among others. We also met the Mickelsons, former mission president in Russia somewhere.

This is not all of them.  Sister Russell is top left.

The second morning of this conference we drove to Radebeul and went to the place where then Apostle Monson rededicated East Germany.  It was quite cold and you can see how bundled everyone was. President Kosak explained how the blessing of the gospel came about for the saints in the East.  After many years they were finally able to have a patriarch, go to the temple and send and receive missionaries.

After that we went into Dresden for the Weihnachts markt.  Dresden has a middle ages markt in the stable area of the former kings,

They cut a potato into a spiral and then deep fry it.

The facade of the stable building.

Then we went into the regular market in the city.  It was very elaborately decorated but not crowded at noon when we were there.  We didn't spend too much time and were on our way for the two hour trip home.

This is a puppet theater